RAFAEL NADAL won his first title of the season, defeating top-ranked Roger Federer yet again on clay to claim his fourth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco on Sunday.

The second-ranked Spaniard won 7-5, 7-5, and improved his clay-court record over Federer to 7-1.

“Winning four times here is unimaginable,” said Nadal, who earned his 24th career title. “Roger played a great match. We always have good finals.”

Nadal has won 98 of his last 99 matches on clay, with a loss to Federer in the 2007 Hamburg final the only blip.

The Swiss star blew commanding leads in each set, breaking Nadal to lead 4-3 in the first and racing to a 4-0 lead in the second.

“Disappointing second set,” Federer said. “After playing the right way against him and then letting him back into the match, it was disappointing. Maybe I didn’t play my best.”

Federer committed too many unforced errors, surprisingly on his forehand, and let Nadal back into the match.

“He deserves to win,” Federer said. “I’m pushing Rafa today, having the feeling I can beat him if I play the right way. And I think that’s the feeling I didn’t have after (Monte Carlo) last year.”

Nadal is the only player in the Open era to win four straight titles at Monte Carlo, and the first since Anthony Wilding of New Zealand (1911-14).

Nadal has won 22 consecutive matches at Monte Carlo since losing to Guillermo Coria in the third round in 2003. Federer was the last person to take a set from him in the 2006 final. Nadal missed 2004 with injury.

The three-time French Open champion is 19-1 in clay-court finals, while Federer dropped to 7-8 on his least favorite surface. The 12-time Grand Slam champion has never won the French Open, the only major title missing from his resume.

Still, Nadal thinks Federer remains the best, despite a slower start to the season. Federer picked up his first win of the season last week at the Estoril Open.

“I think he doesn’t get enough credit,” Nadal said. “It is impossible to be at 100 percent all your career, he is still No. 1, the best in the world.”

“The amount of times I got broken today wasn’t what I was hoping for,” Federer said. “But at least I was finally able to break him also on (four) occasions, which is the good part.”

Federer won only 29 percent of his second-serve points, which even alarmed Nadal.

“A little bit strange because that’s not normal,” Nadal said. “He’s a big server.”(SD-Agencies)